Plaid Cymru Senedd Member Rhun ap Iorwerth has announced he will stand to replace Adam Price as leader.
Adam Price stepped down earlier this month after a damning report into the toxic culture within the party. For the past three weeks no candidate has said they will run as leader, though both Elin Jones and Heledd Fychan have ruled themselves out as prospective leaders.
Mr ap Iorwerth was widely seen as one of the leading contenders to replace Adam Price having come second to him in the last leadership election. However he had previously indicated that he planned to run as the Plaid candidate for Ynys Mon in the next General Election which would have mean he is ineligible to be party leader as Plaid rules state that the leader must be a member of the Senedd.
However, on Twitter he announced his candidacy saying that "in recent weeks we in Plaid Cymru have found ourselves at a cross roads" and that he is "serious about the task ahead".
He paid tribute to Adam Price's leadership and said that he "sees ideas and talent" across all levels of the party. He then added that "my country means so much to me."
He rounded off by saying that he "remain as committed as ever to Ynys Mon" while also giving an indication of the need to start winning seats in the South Wales Valleys by pointing out that he was born there.
There are currently no other Plaid MSs who have thrown their hat into the ring to be the next leader. Whoever the eventual winner is they have got a monstrous task on their hands implementing the more than 80 recommendations from Nerys Evans' report into the party's culture as well as improving the parties performances in the polls after stagnation in recent elections.
At present the acting leader is long service MS Llyr Gruffydd. He will remain leader on an interim basis until a permanent leader is chosen and told WalesOnline he is currently focussed on sorting out the parties toxic culture.
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